“I would [drive] 500 miles, and I would [drive] 500 more.” —Autonomous trucks to FedEx, as part of the company’s first foray into (kinda) autonomous driving tech.
Starting this week, FedEx and Aurora Innovation are teaming up on a pilot program in Texas: Paccar-brand trucks, equipped with Aurora’s autonomous driving software, will make ~500-mile round-trip journeys carrying FedEx cargo.
- They’ll make the trek between Dallas and Houston a few times a week.
But, but, but: Although Aurora’s software turns regular 18-wheelers into autonomous vehicles, there’s still always both a safety driver and co-pilot in the car for security.
The shipping and delivery industry has been exploring autonomous delivery options for a while. In 2018, DHL partnered with Nvidia and ZF to test autonomous deliveries; in 2019, Amazon kicked off a pilot program in Seattle; and in 2020, Waymo and UPS teamed up on tests in Phoenix. More recently, in June, Amazon struck a ~$150 million deal with autonomous truck company Plus to retrofit its delivery trucks with AV tech.
- FedEx has been testing its own delivery bots since 2019, and in June of this year, it teamed up with Nuro for smaller-scale autonomous deliveries.
Big picture: For years, experts have called the trucking industry ripe for AV tech. Compared to other driving environments, the highway’s semi-predictable conditions make it a logical entry point—similar roads, long drives, comparable speed limits—and so do the trucking sector’s worsening labor shortages.
But progress is slow, and the pandemic has delayed AV testing and development.—HF